FX Renews Drama Series

"The 13-episode renewal comes as little surprise given the show’s solid performance — it has been tracking just shy of ‘The Americans’ — and the creative team spoke optimistically of a second season throughout this summer’s panel at the Television Critics Association," the story reports.

THR adds: "All told, the July 10 series premiere has taken in 5.07 million viewers. That figure, Nielsen’s Live+Seven Day returns, marks a 67 percent jump from the original haul of 3.04 million viewers. Both figures just trail ‘The Americans’ as FX’s biggest launch to date. ‘The Bridge’ ranks as the No. 1 new scripted cable series launch of the summer among adults 18-49. Season one is averaging 3.65 million total viewers and 1.68 million among adults 18-49. When adding DVR numbers, the series jumps 89 percent in total viewers and 105 percent in the demo compared with Live+Same Day."

The series is also doing well overseas, the piece notes, with its recent launch attracting 3 million consolidated viewers in 19 metered pay-TV markets en route to what should be an audience of about 4.5 million total viewers.

"’The Bridge,’ an adaptation of international hit ‘Bron,’ came to FX from Shine America and FX Productions. It hails from ‘Homeland’ writer/executive producer Meredith Stiehm and ‘Hawaii Five-0′ producer Elwood Reid and revolves around two detectives, one from the U.S. (Diane Kruger) and one from Mexico (Demian Bichir), who must work together to hunt down a serial killer operating on both sides of the border," THR notes.

The current serial killer storyline will wrap when the show’s 13-episode first season winds down. "Stiehm and Reid recently said that the upcoming finale will act as a launch pad for the sophomore run — though they won’t be taking on a serial killer per season model," the report adds.